Letter 273: To the same person. (361?

To the same man. (361?) The man who makes the theater a fine place for me is Megethius the orator; for he shouts as loud as fifty others, and by this he has often brought the speaker to a halt. And it is a great thing, I think, for the speaker, that a fervent listener should break off the course of his discourse with his wonder. Now at the public displays I repay the shouting by smiling upon him and running up to him; but now, through you, I have found something even more splendid by way of return. With money you brought the brother of this man to his senses, or rather, by fear you brought him to his senses, while you arranged how there might be a release from the penalty. And your letters and your acquaintance pay back the silver, but the silver, finding fault I know not with what, is unwilling to come into their hands. Do you therefore either persuade or compel it not to flee from its masters, so that it may be possible for them to have what is their own, and for you that nothing of what you should order be in vain.

τῷ αὐτῶ. (361?) Ὁ καλόν μοι τὸ θέατρον ποιῶν Μεγέθιός ἐστιν ὁ ῥή- τωρ· βοᾷ γὰρ τηλικοῦτον ὅσον ἄλλοι πεντήκοντα καὶ τούτῳ γε πολλάκις τὸν λέγοντα ἔστησε μέγα δέ, οἶμαι, τῷ λέγοντι θερμὸς ἀκροατὴς θαύματι διακόπτων τοῦ λόγου τὸν δρόμον. ἐν μὲν οὖν ταῖς ἐπιδείξεσιν ἀμείβομαι τὴν βοὴν τῷ προσγε- λάσαι καὶ προσδραμεῖν· νῦν δὲ εὕρηκά τι διὰ σοῦ καὶ λαμ- πρότερον εἰς ἀμοιβήν. χρήμασιν ἐσωφρόνισας τὸν ἀδελφὸν τὸν τοῦδε, μᾶλλον δέ, τῷ φόβῳ μὲν ἐσωφρόνισας, ὅπως δ έσται λύσις τῆς ζημίας συνέπραξας. καί σου γράμματα καὶ γνῶσις ἀποδίδωσι τὸν ἄργυρον, ἀλλ’ ὅ γε ἄργυρος, οὐκ οἶδ ὅ τι μεμφόμενος, ἐλθεῖν αὐτοῖς εἰς χεῖρας οὐκ ἐθέλει. σὺ οὖν αὐτὸν ἢ πεῖσον ἡ ἀνάγκασον μὴ φεύγειν τοὺς δεσπότας, ὅπως τοῖς μὲν τὰ αὑτῶν ἔχειν ὑπάρχῃ, σοὶ δὲ τὸ μηδὲν ὧν κελεύ- σειας μάταιον εἶναι.